HootSuite Amps Up Analytics with UberVu Acquisition

The current leaders in the Social Media Management (SMM) world, HootSuite (HS) and SproutSocial (SS) tied in our comprehensive face-off a few months ago.

But something’s happened which completely changes the game: HootSuite’s just acquired a powerful analytics firm called uberVU.

So what does this mean?

Over the next few months, the big-data-crunching power of uberVU will make its way into HootSuite’s interface and be available for users everywhere. This is big news. While HS won over social media mavens everywhere thanks to its free-of-charge base package, its analytics capabilities left much to be desired. In fact, many could overlook competitor SproutSocial’s monthly fee since it offered the analytical tools necessary in today’s dynamic social media field.

According to a statement by HS CEO Ryan Holmes, “uberVU helps businesses better understand their social audience by identifying key influencers on relevant topics, easily detecting real-time spikes in engagement (with insights on sentiment, location, and demographics), and highlighting important mentions.”

These additions to the HS package render it unmissable in the social media space, and uberVu’s respectable list of clientele only further solidifies its value-added. Firms like indiegogo, SC Johnson, MTV, and NBC have trusted uberVU with their analytics.

In our opinion, any improvement to HS analytics is welcome. The biggest problems we found with HS and the biggest strengths we found in SS in our previous comparison may finally be equalizing. This acquisition will assuredly improve analytics gaps in HS, but we wonder (gleefully) if the site’s re-vamp will likewise include a cleaner, more focused interface. It seems only time will tell, but we can hope.

We wonder how much of uberVu’s direct product will make its way into a re-vamped HS, and we’re especially curious about cool features like conversation maps and sentiment breakdowns currently included in uberVu’s deal (see below).

A teaser informational video on the uberVU website promises intuitive and streamlined information on your social web, not unlike that packaged with SS.

And the best part of all? Packages for uberVU’s innovative technology normally start at the steep price of $499 a month. Now, features from this once out-of-reach service can work their way into the standard HS packages --- not too shabby in our opinion.

We can’t wait to test drive these new features for ourselves in HS and fill you in on how to best leverage them to grow your brand. Until then!